PREVIEW: What you should know ahead of Saturday's preseason match vs. D.C. United

The list of available players for tonight's preseason friendly vs. D.C. United

February 8, 2014

Jeff Crandall

Chicago-Fire.com

The Chicago Fire take their first preseason bow against an MLS side Saturday night when they face D.C. United at IMG Academy Field in Bradenton Fla. Watch the match LIVE at 6:00pm CT at Chicago-Fire.com/live.

Here are some things you should know about tonight’s game:

Available Players

The Fire have 27 signed players in camp plus nine un-signed guest players and draft picks available for selection in tonight’s match. See the list of eligible players below:

After spending January with the U.S. Men’s National Team, Mike Magee arrived in Bradenton Wednesday and has trained the past three days. After the month-long training camp, Magee was allowed to head back to Chicago on Saturday morning to gain a bit of extra rest ahead of the Comcast SportsNet Awards set for Monday night.

The 2013 MLS Most Valuable Player will re-join the team for Phase 3 of training camp in Tucson, Ariz.

Who’s Grant Ward?

One new arrival in Fire camp this week is 19-year-old who arrives as a guest player in Bradenton from Barclay’s Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Ward was spotted by Fire head coach Frank Yallop during his offseason trip to England and is described as a versatile defender who has developed into a highly attacking left back for Spurs.

He does bear a striking resemblance to former Fire midfielder Mike Banner...

What's D.C. United all about now?

After finishing bottom of the league in 2013, Ben Olsen and D.C. United have been one of Major League Soccer’s busiest teams this past offseason, having already welcomed 12 new players to the team so far. Those include U.S. Men’s National Team striker Eddie Johnson (from Seattle), well-known attacker Fabian Espindola (from New York) and standout defenders Sean Franklin (LA Galaxy), Bobby Boswell (Houston) and Jeff Parke (Philadelphia).